Angel

O

riginally under the name Sweet Mama From Heaven, Angel first emerged from America's east coast with Gregg Giuffria (keyboards) and Frank DiMino (vocals) who in turn hired the services of Punky Meadows (Real Name: Edwin Meadows; guitar) and Mickey Jones (bass) both ex-Daddy Warbucks (a.k.a. Bux), and Barry Brandt (drums/percussion/vocals) when Gene Simmons (of Kiss) got Neil Bogart's 'Cassablanca' label to sign them (same label as Kiss themselves). It was in late 1975 when they hit the top US 200 with their eponymous debut album. Hulluva Band followed six months later, likewise in the same basic pomp heavy metal sound. Among its tributes, the album boasted rather dull musical score and lyrics filled with predictable sexual innuendo with the band managing to get press coverage for their wild attire more than anything else.

A US 76 was their reward for their 1977 third set, On Earth There Is No Heaven. It appeared as though the pop style heavy metal leanings were paying off for when Felix Robinson substituted Jones they fared even better on their fourth effort, White Hot (1978), making US 55. But the brakes were put on their climb after the Flying With Broken Wings single made 44 for the follow-up albums of Sinful (1979) and Live Without A Net (1980; live), not to mention the movie Foxes in which the band had an appearance all failed to sell. 'Casablanca' gave them the boot, the act split shortly after. In the mid 1980s Giuffria re-emerged in his own self-named act around the same time that Angel was reforming but nothing was recorded and the act split again almost immediately after.